JR East, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, Mitsui Fudosan, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Takenaka are among the backers of UTokyo IPC's First Round accelerator.

Venture Investors has now raised $75m for its latest vehicle, from limited partners that include care provider Advocate Aurora Health.

Kristin Bannon and Serena Dayal have taken positions at SoftBank Vision Fund following stints at Morgan Stanley and Fortress Investment Group respectively.

Panache Ventures has closed its inaugural fund at $43.7m thanks to limited partners including Telus, helping the vehicle overshoot its target by almost 50%.

Laurel Buckner is heading to venture firm WestRiver Group as a managing director having helped ATN set up its corporate venturing arm.

Declan Kelly, formerly a founding partner at venture firm Amaranthine Partners, has joined the Germany-based investment team at accelerator Techstars.

Triventures, which already has several corporate backers, has raised more than half of the capital for a $40m fund it has launched with Chaim Sheba Medical Center.

The entertainment-focused venture fund has raised a total of $35m, with new backers Adways, Axel Springer and ProSiebenSat.1 joining the likes of Sky.

Eli Lilly, Astellas Venture Management, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Zambon subsidiary Zcube all contributed to the firm's $60m third fund.

Digital Base Capital has attracted a commitment from GA Technologies as it seeks to promote the property technology sector in Japan.